Telephone traffic indicating and recording means



Jan. 15, 1946. w. J. VINCENT ETAL 2,392,890

TELEPHONE TRAFFIC INDICATING AND RECORDING MEANS Filed Feb. 3, 1944 2Sheets-Sheet 1 I N VEN TORS w. V/NCf/VT E. 0, 7/71 1907 BY z I flrroe/vvP585 5568i mo m, L #22058 @2555 :5 E Q N m .2 N N h L H J I I) h 8502. nN FUI NZ: KMDEUWEQW $9583 @255 S36 9 tZDxk 02.2007: 12 w; 0259,20 EDUEU0X00 .CDQEU m2] TO CORD, LINE, OR TRUNK CCT.

m 1946. w. J. VINCENT ETAL 2,392,890

TELEPHONE TRAFFIC INDICATING AND RECORDING MEANS Filed Feb. 5, 1944 2Sheets-Sheet 2 o oo o o 0000 00 o o oo o o- 0 o o o m 000 o a o o N o ooo o 0 c 0 0 LO 0 o o N o co 0 o 0 o J/zimmw/mwqnmm y g///// g CLOCK NEONLAMPS HOV Patented Jen. is, 1946 TELEPHONE TRAFFIC INDICATING ANDRECORDING MEANS William J. Vincent and Emmett n. Talbot, m-

ester, N. Y., assignors to Rochester Telephone Corporation, Rochester,N. Y., a corporation of New York Application February 311944, Serial No.520,984

(01. ire-7.1)

'iClaims.

This invention relates to telephone systems and more particularly tomeans for automatically indicating and recording that portion of thetime during an observation period, that a given telephone link or agroup of such links, is in use. In a telephone system it is frequentlynecessary in the making of trafllc studies to obtain information as tothe percentage of time that the several connection links such as cordcircuits or trunks or lines of a group are in use. It will beappreciated that if these links areinsufllcient to carry the load duringany given period, the service will suffer. n the other hand, if anexcess of link circuits is provided, it will be uneconomical since eachcircuit involves a considerable investment, In th past, when such linktrafllc information was desired, it was necessary to have an observernote the duration of each use. Such observance was often inaccurate dueto failure of the human factor.

In accordance with the main feature of the present invention, it isproposed to provide, in a suitable array, a signal for each link, whichsignal when actuated indicates that its link is in use and it isfurtherproposed to photograph this array periodically to make a permanentrecord of the actuated signals.

In accordance with another feature of the invention, there is provided aneon lamp or the like for each link of a group which lamp is arranged tobe optionally lighted either intermittently or continuously throughoutthe period that said link is in use. The lamm of a group are preferablycompactly arranged in coordinate rows and have an illuminated countingmeter associated therewith to show additionally the number of times thatphotographic exposures of the group of lamps have been made during agiven period. A cooperating photographic device is arrangedautomatically to make intermittent exposures on a periodically advancedphotographic strip. The images of the lighted lamps will appear in eachexposure and since the rate of advance of the strip is known, it ispossible to derive therefrom, .what portion of a measured interval thateach of the links under observation is in use.

For a clearer understanding of the invention, reference is made to thedrawings in which:

Fig. 1 is a diagrammatic illustration of a portion of a. telephonesystem including a calling and a called telephone line together with askeleton cord circuit as well as an incoming trunk circuit and anoutgoing trunk circuit, 11 generally referred to as links andfunctioning to interconnect a calling and a called subscriber;

Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the recording apparatus including aphotographic device which faces a panel having mounted thereon an arrayof lamps, a lamp being individual to each link under observation andalso having mounted thereon an exposure counting meter common to saidarray of lamps;

Fig. 3 is a fragment of a photographic strip with a record of link useindicated thereon; and

Fig. 4 is a diagrammatic showing of the electrical'means and circuitsfor actuating the apparatus of Fig. 2.

Although the present invention is adapted to indicate trafllc conditionson the lines or links of all types of telephone systems including bothmanual and automatic, it is herein illustrated in Fig. 1, as applied toa well-known manual telephone system. This system will best be undervstood by describing briefly the operation of extending a call to awanted subscriber. When the subscriber at A initiates a call, the linerelay 2 of calling telephone line I is energized in the well-knownmanner to light the line lamp 3. The operator on noting the lighting ofthe lamp 3 inserts the plug P of the cord circuit into the subscriber'sline jack J. This operation energizes the sleeve relay 4 of the cord, inseries with the cut-of! relay 5 of the calling line, over an obviouscircuit. The cut-oil relay disconnects the line relay 2 from this linewhich results in the extinguishing of the line lamp 3. It will be notedthat the sleeve relay 4 is provided with an armature and contact I whichare closed as long as the relay 4 is operated, that is as long as theanswering end of the cord circuit is in use. The operator, throughsuitable listening means, not shown, ascertains the number of the wantedline from the calling subscriber at A. On receiving this information,the operator inserts the plug Pl into the Jack JI of an out-going trunkleading to an incoming trunk at a distant ofllce.

through which the called subscriber at substation B can be reached. Theincoming trunk terminates in a plug P2 at a B operator's position in thedistant oflice where a B operator, in turn, receives the designation ofthe wanted line in the well-known manner and inserts the plug P2 of theincoming trunk into the jack J2 of the line 9 leading to the wantedsubscribers substation at B. It will be noted that the sleeve relay llassociated with the outgoing trunk is energized in an obvious circuit assoon as plug PI is inserted into the lack Jl. The sleeve relay i isprovided with an armature and contact II which are closed during theentire period of operation of thissleeve relay, that is, as long as theoutgoing trunk is in use. The incoming trunk which is connected to thecalled line by inserting th plug P2 into the jack J2 of that line, isalso provided with a sleeve relay 1! arranged to be operated in anobvious circuit completed at the battery feed relay 15. The sleeve relayI3 is likewise provided with an armature and contact [8 which are closedas long as this relay remains operated.

In accordance with the present invention, there is provided incombination with the telephone system of Fig. 1, the novel trafficindicating and recording apparatus illustrated in Fig. 2, as well as thenovel electrical circuits and means for operating this apparatus, shownin Fig. 4. It should be pointed out that this apparatus and itsoperating means can be used to determine traffic conditions in a groupof cord circuits, incoming trunks, or outgoing trunks, all hereingenerally referred to as links.

The mentioned apparatus includes a panel I! on the face of which thereare mounted in coordinate rows, 9. group of lamps l8 preferably of theneon type. Each of these lamps is individual to a link of a group underobservation and is arranged to be periodically or continuously lightedwhile its related link is in use, as will be described. It will beunderstood that if a group of cord circuits are being observed, theobserving apparatus (Fig. 2) will have a lamp l8 individual to each suchcord circuit with its lighting circuit i9 controlled at the armature andcontact such as I of the sleeve relay 4 (Fig. 1). However, if a group ofoutgoing trunks are under consideration, a lamp l8 individual to eachtrunk will have its lighting circuit controlled at the armature andcontact such as H of a relay II). On the other hand, if a group ofincoming trunks is being studied, a lamp l8 individual to each trunk hasits lighting circuit controlled at an armature and contact such as [6 ofa relay [3.

For purposes of this description, it is assumed that there areforty-eight links in the group being observed and that the individuallamps ill of these links are conveniently arranged on the panel ll ineight vertical and six horizontal rows. There is also mounted on theface of the panel, an exposure counting meter 20, which is illuminatedby a suitable light source 2i and which is actuated whenever a record ismade. The lights and the meter on the face of the panel can beperiodically photographed by a camera 23 normally focused on the panel.This camera is preferably arranged to utilize a strip of film 24 (Fig.3) such as thirty-five millimeter film, and is further arranged to beactuated by a solenoid 25 which causes the camera to make an exposure aswell as suitably advance the strip of film after each exposure, inreadiness for a succeeding use.

The electrical means for actuating the solenoid 25 is indicated in Fig.4 to which reference is now made. This electrical means preferablyincludes an electric clock 21, provided with a brush or contactor 28,which rotates continuously during the time that the electrical actuatingmeans is in use. While the clock 21 can be arranged to rotate its brushin any desired time interval, it is herein illustrated that the brushcompletes each revolution in one minute of time. This brush is arrangedto make successive contact with fixed contactors 29, 30, 3| and 32positioned ninety degrees apart in the circular path of rotation of thebrush. Thus, the brush 28 will make contact with some one of thesecontactors every fifteen seconds. Since it may be desired to have thebrush effectively make contact with only one of these contactors, fourtoggle switches 34, 35, 38 and 31 are provided for the purpose ofselectively rendering effective or ineffective any of the mentionedcontactors. It will be understood that if all four of the contactors areeffective, then fifteen second or one-quarter minute intervals will bemeasured. However, if two opposite contactors are disconnected, thenonly one-half minute interval will be measured. For purposes of thisdescription, it will be assumed that the toggle switches 34, 35, 36 and31 are closed so that all of the mentioned contactors are renderedeffective. The toggle switch 38, when open, places the lighting of theneon lamps under the control of relay 40 so that these lamps can belighted only during the interval of exposure of the camera. When,however, the switch 38 is closed, the control of the neon lamps isindependent of relay 40 and these lamps continue to be lighted duringthe periods that their related links are in use.

Whenever the traillc observing arrangement is in use, the electric motorclock 21 will rotate its brush 28 continuously. Since all the contactors28, '38, 3i and 32 are now effective, a record will be made each timethat the brush 28 engages a contactor. Thus, when the brush 28 engagesthe contactor 3|, a circuit is completed from ground, conductor 42,brush 28, fixed contactor 3|, conductor 44, toggle switch 34, winding ofthe relay 4!], conductors 43, fuse 45, to grounded battery. The relay48, thus energized, completes a circuit for operating the camerasolenoid 25 which causes the camera to photograph the lighted lamps IIon the film strip 24 as well as advances this strip for the nextexposure. Relay 40 also completes a circuit for the exposure meter orcounter 20. The circuit for the solenoid is traceable from groundedbattery, conductor 46, winding of the solenoid 25, conductor 41,armature and front contact of the normally energized slow-releasingrelay 48, conductor 49, the makebefore-break contacts of the relay 48,conductor 5| to ground. It should be mentioned that the normallyenergized relay 48 is provided to insure a prompt action on the part ofthe solenoid 25 even if the make before break contacts of the relay 45are somewhat out of accurate adjustment. The exposure meter counter 20is energized from grounded battery, fuse 45, conductors 43 and 50,winding of the magnet of counter, lower front contact and armature ofrelay 40, conductor 5! to grounded battery. This counter is thusoperated on each exposure of the camera. Consequently, if the counternumbers appearing in the successive exposures are not consecutive, itwill show that there is an omission in the record, probably arising fromthe failure of the camera to make an exposure.

After the trafllc observing period has ended, the film strip 24 isdeveloped in the usual manner so that the images lid. of the lightedlamps l8 will appear in a regular pattern in successive pictures on thestrip which is now ready for study. In effecting this study, a projectoror film viewer is used. It will be remembered that the timingarrangement, including the clock 21, is so set up that a picture istaken on the film 24, every fifteen seconds. With this in mind, therecord is easily interpreted, since the pictures show six lamp imagesIla in the first vertical row of exposures were made, whereas the fifthand sixth lamps IS in the mentioned vertical row were lighted onlyduring exposures "5231 and "5232. From this information, it can bedetermined how much of the time the mentioned six links and theremaining links of the group of forty-eight links, were in use duringthe observation period.

What we claim is:-

l. The method of determining the traffic conditions in a group oftelephone links which comprises providing an array of indications oflinks in use, periodically making photographic records of saidindications and simultaneously indicating on said records serialdesignations therefore.

2. The method of determining the trailic conditions in a group oftelephone links which comprises providing an array of light indicationsof links in use, periodically making a photographic record of saidindications and simultaneously photographing on each record adesignation thereof.

3. Themethod of determining the tramc conditions in a group of telephonelinks which comprises providing an array of light indications of linksin use, periodically making a photographic record of said indications ona continuous medium which is progressively movable at a given rate.

4. In combination with a telephone system, a group of link circuits overwhich telephone calls can be extended, a trailic recording arrangementfor recording the periods of use of said link circuits, said arrangementcomprising a panel provided with an indicator individual to each linkcircuit, said indicators having an operative and an inoperativecondition, a counter associated with said indicators, a camera directedon said cators of link circuits in use, means for periodically operatingsaid camera to photograph said counter and the operated indicators onsaid panel, and means for advancing the counter with each operation ofsaid camera.

5. In combination with a telephone system including a group of linkcircuits over which telephone calls can be extended, a relay associatedwith each link circuit and normally functioning in the course of the useof its link circuit, a lamp individual to each link controlled by therelay individual to said link, the lamps of said link circuits beingarranged in a group, a camera for photographing said group of lamps, atiming device, and means including said timing: device for operatingsaid camera.

6. In combination with a telephone system including a group of linkcircuits over which telephone calls can be extended, a relay associatedwith each link circuit and normally functioning in the course of the useof its link circuit, a glow discharge lamp individual to each link andconpanel, means for rendering operative the inditrolled in part by therelay individual to its link, the lamps of said link circuits beingarranged in a group, a counter device associated with said lamps, acamera for photographing said group of lamps and counter device, atiming device, and means including said timing device for operating saidcamera and counter device.

'1. In a telephone system, telephone lines, a group of links forinterconnecting said lines, an indicator individual to each trunk forindicating the busy or idle condition thereof, said indicators beingmounted to present a symmetrical array, a photographic device providedwith a film strip and with means for taking successive pictures of saidarray on said strip, and means including a timing device for actuatingsaid camera at the conclusion of intervals of uniform duration.

WILLIAM J. VINCENT. EMME'I'I D. TALBOT.

